Malta’s CO₂ emissions from energy use have been rising since 2017, Eurostat statistics show.

Malta was one of four EU countries that saw an estimated increase in CO₂ emissions in 2019, Eurostat reports, while nearly every other EU country saw a decrease over the previous year.

Eurostat estimates that in 2019, the year before COVID-19 containment measures were widely introduced by EU Member States, carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from fossil fuel combustion (mainly oil and oil products, coal, peat and natural gas) significantly decreased by 4.3% in the European Union of 27 Member States (EU), compared with the previous year.

“CO₂ emissions are a major contributor to global warming and account for some 80% of all man-made EU greenhouse gas emissions. They are influenced by factors such as climate conditions (e.g. cold / long winter or hot summer), economic growth, size of the population, transport and industrial activities,” the Eurostat statement read.

“CO₂ emissions from fossil fuels are generated in the country where the fuels are burned for purposes such as electricity generation, transport, steel production etc. Consequently, imports and exports of energy products have an impact: for example if coal is imported for electricity generation this leads to an increase in emissions in the importing country, while if electricity as such is imported, it has no effect on emissions in the importing country, as these emissions would be reported in the exporting country where the electricity has been produced.”

Largest falls in CO₂ emissions from energy use in Estonia and Denmark, highest increase in Luxembourg

According to Eurostat estimates, emissions fell in 2019 in a majority of EU Member States, with the highest decrease in Estonia (-22.1%), followed by Denmark (-9%), Greece and Slovakia (-8.9% each), Portugal (-8.7%) and Spain (-7.2%). Increases were estimated for four Member States: Luxembourg (+7.5%), ahead of Austria (+2.8%), Malta (+2%) and Lithuania (+1.6%), while CO2 emissions remained unchanged in Cyprus.

Eurostat statistics for 2018 show that, when compared to 2017, CO₂ emissions in Malta from energy use rose by 6.7%. In 2017, CO₂ emissions from energy locally rose by 12.8% (highest in the EU) when compared to 2016. However, in 2016 Malta registered the largest drop in CO₂ emissions from energy use in the EU (18.2%). In 2015 Malta had also registered the largest decrease in CO₂ emissions – a drop of 26.9% - when compared to 2014.